T20 World Cup 2021: “Cannot take Afghanistan lightly, they are a very good and mature team” - Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh reckons that India cannot take Afghanistan lightly at any cost. According to the off-spinner, the Mohammad Nabi-led side are a very good team with a lethal spin combination.

India need to beat Afghanistan by a massive margin to keep their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive in the T20 World Cup 2021. The Indians are precariously placed, having gone down to Pakistan by 10 wickets and New Zealand by eight wickets.

Previewing Wednesday’s clash in Abu Dhabi, Harbhajan admitted to Sportskeeda that Afghanistan are a potential threat to India. He stated:

“You cannot take Afghanistan lightly, they are a very good and mature team. They have decent batters and their spin duo of Mujeeb Ur Rahman-Rashid Khan is a lethal combination. This format is such that, till the end, you cannot predict which team will win or lose. The team that is ahead after the first six overs is likely to have the advantage. The chances of making a comeback become very slim after that.”

While India are yet to register a victory in the T20 World Cup 2021, Afghanistan have two wins from three games. They gave a tough fight to Pakistan as well before Asif Ali’s brilliance scuttled their challenge.

"Don’t believe in past records” - Harbhajan on India's domination over Afghanistan

India and Afghanistan have met five times (ODI and T20Is combined), out of which the former have won four games while one match tied. Afghanistan gave India a tough fight in the 2019 World Cup clash and it needed a hat-trick from Mohammed Shami to lift India to victory.

On the head-to-head stats between the two teams, Harbhajan said he does not believe in past records. He stated only the present matters. Elaborating on his views, the 41-year-old said:

“As a cricketer, I don’t believe in past records. I find stats useless. What has happened before, we cannot assume that it will happen again. If that was the case, we beat Pakistan 12 times, and we should have won the 13th time as well. We cannot change the past. What matters is how we play in the present. We had beaten them earlier but that Afghanistan team was in the making, now they are ready. That’s the big difference. This Afghanistan team is capable of defeating big sides.”

India's match against Afghanistan on Wednesday will be played in Abu Dhabi. The Men In Blue played their first two matches of the T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai.

Check out the updated T20 World Cup 2021 points table here.